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American Research· institute's talent hunt students

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: ; / Λ ~"<;.r; K;- ; / " , ' . ;.- v.ÀJKI director .John C. Fïanâganr j

Big Talent Search Under W a y The U. S. seeks to evaluate its human resources through a broad survey of high school students

X HIS WEEK, American Research Insti­tute starts work on the first major pro­gram ever conducted among all U . S. high school students to test and analyze ability. The survey is designed to por­tray the nation's high school population —an image only guessed at previously— for educators and agencies concerned with manpower problems. The data ARI collects will concentrate on talent, career interest, and educational prog­ress and pians of the student.

John C. Flanagan, professor of psy­chology at the University of Pittsburgh and head of ART dirRofs the talent search from headquarters at t he univer­sity. On the basis of pilot studies con­ducted during the past year, Flanagan expects to run a field study in one school district ( 1000 to 1500 pupils) in May, then start nationwide testing early next year. Some 500,000 students in 1400 schools will take part in the big survey. This represents about 5f/c of total U. S. high school enrollments.

Students involved will devote two days to the testing program. They will be scored on 25 different tests that measure aptitudes, achievements, per­sonality, and interests. Facts on the students' schools and communities,

added by ARI, will provide background information for the researchers to cor­relate with the students' histories.

The ARI project anticipates a first follow-up on students who take the test one year after they graduate from high school. This check will allow ARI to judge educational policies, guidance, and instruction against home and com­munity influences. Later checks, planned for five, 10, and 20 years in the future, will gage the success and satis­faction of career choices made by the students.

• U. S. Sponsor ing Project. T h e U. S. Office of Education is providing $500,000, through its Cooperative Re-sea ch Program as a starter for the ARI survey. Total scope and ultimate cost of the program, the Education Office says, depend on the interest other fed-p r n i i\fTP»pf>i#^c e n n w r i n i i - ΤΓΛ„_ cation, National Institutes of Mental Health, National Science Foundation, and Oifice of Naval Research helped finance the pilot studies for ARI. Flanagan estimates costs for the first ii\e years of the project will be about $900,000.

Flanagan says a study of the scope ARI plans has been wanted by educa­

tors for 20 years. However, the me­chanics of scoring the tests and ana­lyzing and correlating the results could not have been handled before the de­velopment of electronic scoring ma­chines and computers.

Although most educators seem to favor the talent search, some opposition to the project developed at a meeting of the American Association of School Administrators going on at the time the Office of Education announced it would support the research. One objector, F. M. Raubinger, New Jersey's Com­missioner of Education, said the project opens the way to federal control of the schools. Flanagan counters that the study is a sorely needed research effort to determine what kind of educational experience appears to do students the most good. Too many school coun-

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Challenge in Westchester The Westchester (Ν. Υ.) Chemi­

cal Society is rounding up the county's resources in an effort to interest more high school students and teachers in after-school science work. First leg of the program: a series of lectures for teachers. Follow-up plans for the new venture include:

• Enrolling scientists to s^rve as con­sultants to students and teachers.

1 5 4 C & E N M A R C H 2, 1959

• Locating industrial and research equipment for science projects.

Main objective of Westchester 's lec­ture series is to acquaint teachers with recent developments in biology, chem­istry, and physics and their application in industry, •agriculture, and space travel. Each teacher session includes a 30-mirmte review of the previous week's work, a one-hour lecture by a scientist, and a 45-minute conference on how to apply the new knowledge to teaching. Teachers who at tend the series may earn two units of in-service credit through the University of the State of New \ o r k .

Next major effort of the society will be to organize scientist panels in each Westchester community to advise stu­dents on after-school work such as science fair and science club projects. They will also be asked to coach stu­dents on careers in science and arrange field trips where students and teachers can see science in operation. In time, the society hopes to have at least two chemists, biologists, physicists, and mathematicians working in each area.

Third phase of Westchester 's pro­gram calls for an area-wide inventory of equip ment in industrial and research laboratories that students can use, either on loan or daring plant visits.

Atomic Energy on Film

The Atomic Energy Commission now has ready, for loan or sale, 45 new tech­nical ( professional level ) films screened in Geneva at the Second International Conference on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy. These are 16-mm. motion pictures, mostly in color: 11 are on bio­medical work; 10 on power reactors; nine on research and test reactor.*;; seven on fuels and processing; three on safety; two on industrial applications; and one each describes particle accelerators, controlled thermonuclear research, and agricultural research.

AEC says the Geneva films, in gen­eral, are too technical for lay audiences and secondary school students.

Most of the films are authorized for TV and are well suited for educational or closed circuit programs.

Public Information Service, AEC, Washington 25 , D. C. will furnish film descriptions, giving prices and the places where they may be borrowed or purchased.

Training Science Teachers

A A A S emphasizes subject matter over methods; in set­ting teachers* curricula

JL HE INCREASING COMPLEXITY of sci­ence hits hard at a teacher 's knowledge of his subject, says the American Asso­ciation for the Advancement off Science in new recommendations for training high school science teachers. Today, teachers must be able to answer t h e "why" questions rather than just teach their subjects empirically.

In prepar ing a teacher-training pro­gram with adequa te subject content, AAAS was guided by one factor that seems inescapable in high school sci­ence: Most teachers a r e required to teach more than one subject. Wi th this in mind, it decided that a four-year curriculum cannot prepare teachers to d o a good job i n widely divergent fields—for example, social sci­ence teachers to teach chcsnistry or English teachers to teach physics. If multiple assignments are unavoidable, AAAS believes in more favorable com­binations such <is chemistry and physics or physics and math. But commit­ments to these double duties also should be geared to five years of train­ing instead of the usual four.

AAAS recommendations for science teacher training reflect the work of its cooperative committee, made up of representatives from scientific· societies. The committee's five-year science train­ing curriculum depends on spending 60 semester hours (half the student's college t ime) on subject courses dur­ing the first four years. These would be supplemented by studies in the hu­manities, social sciences, and educa­tion courses plus teaching experience. The fifth year would concentrate on improving competence in science.

The chemistry course adds up like this:

Chemistry Physics Biology Ear th Science Mathematics

Four-Year Total

Fifth Year

Five- 1 Year ] Total ]

( Semester hours ) 1

28 8 8 3

12

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18 6

~~30 "

46 I 14 1 8 Î 3 1

18

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M A R C H 2. 1 9 5 9 C & E N T 5 5